Author: Njih Favour

Community healthcare workers aren’t qualified to treat serious mental health issues, but they can offer vital support and referrals when needed. (Shutterstock) News & Features 7th July 2025 | Sue Segar South Africa does not have enough psychologists and psychiatrists to meet the mental health needs of everyone in the country. One solution is to train community healthcare workers to provide some basic mental health support. We explore how one such a task-sharing project is being scaled up in KwaZulu-Natal. It’s a Wednesday morning in the Amajuba district near Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal. A community healthcare worker walks into a brick…

This project is funded by: What began as a struggle with drugs in 2010 has turned into a powerful testimony of change and hope. Sipho Dlamini, once addicted to substances and infected with both HIV and tuberculosis (TB) from shared needles, is now using his story to help others. Sipho Dlamini uses his battle with addiction as a cautionary tale. (Photo: Supplied) Dlamini’s journey into addiction was like that of many young people: marked by peer pressure, emotional pain, and the false comfort of drugs. “I started smoking in 2010,” he says. “At the time, I didn’t understand the dangers.…

The community of Welkom, in the Free State, is crying foul after three weeks without running water while raw sewage runs through their streets. Residents criticised the “clean cities and towns” campaign launched by Deputy President Paul Mashatile in Welkom this week.  Bronville resident Quinton Bergman says the provincial government must put the Matjhabeng local municipality under administration for failing to provide basic services. “They are hosting a cleaning campaign whereby the neighbouring Ward 11 (Bronville) hasn’t had running water for 15 days, and raw sewage has been blocking the Bronville Primary School entrance since November 2024. We’ve reported this…

US President Donald Trump’s administration has cut life-saving aid to many African countries. (Photo: White House/Shealah Craighead) Comment & Analysis 4th July 2025 | Russell Rensburg South Africa still lacks an action plan after the withdrawal of US aid for HIV and related health services. But when funds do arrive, how will they be managed? Russell Rensburg suggests the answer may lie in the District Health Programme Grant. The government’s extended silence on how it plans to solve the funding crisis created by the withdrawal of US aid has thrown much of the health sector in South Africa into severe…

This project is funded by: When entering Stinkwater near Hammanskraal in the north of Pretoria, one is greeted by streets overflowing with excreta and wastewater gushing from clogged manholes. The sight has become a landmark, and residents are accusing the municipality of negligence.  Lazarus Matjebe (61) has lived in the area for more than 20 years and says the municipality has not been responsive to their complaints. He says they report the leaking sewage almost daily, but they are given the runaround.  Subscribe to our newsletter “There is no progress in this matter.  And the children’s health and safety are…

10 Jun  SAHPRA undergoes training to strengthen its regulatory capabilities Posted at 15:03h in News & Updates by Melanie Govindasamy 04 June 2025 – The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) recently visited the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) at their Cairo Offices for an intensive training programme to capacitate the Regulator on how to achieve recognition for the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Benchmarking Tool (GBT) Maturity Level 3 (Ml3) in medicines. Having signed a Memorandum of Understanding with EDA in 2023, this three-day training allowed for the cross-pollination of knowledge and capacity building on the continent. EDA’s Centre…

02 Jul  SAHPRA welcomes new Board Members Posted at 13:57h in News & Updates by Melanie Govindasamy Pretoria, 02 July 2025 – The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) welcomes its newly appointed Board Members. The SAHPRA Board is appointed by the Minister of the National Department of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi. The appointment is in accordance with section 2C(2) of the Medicines and Related Substances Act, 1965 (Act No. 101 of 1965) as amended. The Board is appointed for a five-year term, effective from 01 July 2025 to 30 June 2030. The new Board members are Dr Thapelo…

“If you are not South African, from today you will not be allowed into any South African hospital.”This was the message delivered by a member of Operation Dudula outside Hillbrow Clinic on Monday to a foreign national. It was not an isolated incident. In recent months, many videos have circulated on social media showing South Africans – including private citizens and members of the anti-migrant group Operation Dudula – barring individuals they identify as foreign nationals from accessing healthcare services at various facilities across Gauteng and other parts of the country. The group blames migrants for placing undue pressure on…

Low screening coverage, late diagnoses, high HIV prevalence, and limited access to treatment and vaccines are driving cervical cancer cases and deaths in South Africa. The country has a cervical cancer rate of between 22.8 and 27 per 100,000 women, much higher than the global average of 15.8 per 100,000. It is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women in South Africa. Each year, over 10,700 women receive a cervical cancer diagnosis, and more than 5,800 lose their lives to it. Women with HIV are six times more likely to develop cervical cancer than those who are HIV-negative. Because…

No cases of the new SARS-CoV-2 variant NB.1.8.1 has been detected in South Africa at this stage. (Photo: Joyrene Kramer) News & Features 30th June 2025 | Biénne Huisman COVID-19 has largely dropped out of the headlines, but the virus that causes it is still circulating. We ask what we should know about a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2025, and the lack of access to updated vaccines in South Africa. In the leafy Johannesburg suburb of Sandringham, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) bears a deceptive facade. Do not be fooled by…